More than just a music conference, the final weekend of April was filled with electronic music madness. Travel 3Sixty’s youngest writer was at Music Conference Asia 2013 and Global Sound System to experience it all!

By Adli Syahril Photography By Adli Syahril & Global Sound Masters

Before the music festival began, I was talking to the person sitting next to me at the music workshop. He is a music enthusiast like me and we were chatting about DJs and the music scene in Malaysia. We ended the conversation with a question, “Do you think it’s going to be a good rave tonight?” “We will see”, he said.

We’re ready for the madness. It’s party time!

Music Conference Asia isn’t something new for most festival goers. But for the first time this year, the annual event introduced its official stage branded as Global Sound System.

On that day, we headed out early to check out the music conference at Sama-Sama Hotel in Sepang. Highlights included music workshop with coaching session and demonstration on Ableton–a music-mixing programme by certified trainers Rueben Samuel from Malaysia and Tom Cosm from New Zealand. For the keynote interview, DJ-producer Judge Jules discussed about the global dance music phenomenon as the music is now widely accepted and received mainstream radio airplay. The former BBC Radio 1 personality also shared with the audience about his career as a DJ and how he rose to prominence after teaming up with Norman Jay, the creator of the legendary party branded as Good Times Sound System.

Ableton guru from New Zealand, Tom Cosm demonstrates the use of Ableton instrument, the launchpad at the conference.

Judge Jules posed with my sombrero after the conference.

After the workshop, we drove to Sepang International Circuit for the music festival – Global Sound System. I brought my sombrero along. If you ever asked me why, the answer is simple: IT’S A PARTY!

The festival line-up was a combination of top class acts and legendary electronic music names such as BT, Felix Da Housecat, Judge Jules, Shogun and Alex Kenji, apart from homegrown acts –Terence C, Phil K Lee and Mr. Nasty and GuruGuru. As we walked into the festival ground, we saw multiple generations of party revellers. I assumed they were there to see the legends. Oh well, you are never too old to party!

The real dance floor mayhem soon begins. The whole arena went wild like there was no tomorrow as soon as Alex Kenji helmed the decks followed by Felix Da Housecat, Shogun and Judge Jules. We were elevated by the music throughout the audio-visual extravaganza.

Can you breathe in this party suit?

Party madness

The highly reputable Grammy-nominated DJ-producer BT dished out his enigmatic sound to end the night. He dropped some of his hits including This Must Be The Love, Letting Go and Every Other Way. We showed him how we party hard in Malaysia. He did not disappoint his Malaysian fans who have been anticipating his performance at the festival.

BT on the decks

Nothing can stop the crowd from having a good time.

After the music stopped, everyone was asking for more. If only the party had lasted for days! Why do all good things have to come to an end? One thing I know for sure, I had a great time…and I look forward to the next one.